day morning. >> for sheena and all of us here, thanks for watching. i'm renee chenault fatah. >> tonight, looking for relief. boston bracing for another blizzard watch. on the broadcast tonight, frostbite on the heels of record snowfall the coldest temperatures of the season are on the way from the midwest to the east into the deep south. and now a blizzard watch is on for the hardest hit. back from the brink, a deal to end the killing in ukraine. but serious questions remain over wheer vladimir putin will actually honor his end of it. caught on camera police open fire on a man on a busy street for allegedly throwing rocks. pride of his life tony dorsett living with traumatic brain injury which he says came from the hits he took on the field. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york this

is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight lester holt. good evening. the misery of this winter to remember is extending its reach into places we usually go to escape the cold. windchill warnings are posted in 17 states as a blast of arctic air promises to send temperatures into the single digits from the midwest on into the northeast and well below normal temperatures for the deep south in florida. this ahead of a weekend snowstorm bearing down in the northeast. boston already buried under more than six feet of snow is under a blizzard watch again tonight. where will they put it all? let's turn to nbc's ron mott in boston. hi ron. >> reporter: hey, lester. bitter cold air only going to make it tougher. the bigger job plenty of those around boston tonight, reinforcements are finally here. snow fighting backup has arrived in boston tonight. heavy equipment from neighboring

states after mayor marty wallace sent out the all-call for help. one of those responding new york city mayor bill de blasio. >> can i call you if i need to take up the offer. and then we get the third storm. and i talk to the man, said we need a little help here. >> reporter: already governor charlie baker deployed the national guard to help hard-hit communities. >> this is definitely the most snow i've ever seen in this area since i was a kid in 1978. >> reporter: overnight temperatures are expected to plunge from the upper midwest to the deep south. and for those like real estate agent george wood still digging out in boston. how long has it been since you drove your car last? >> i'm going to say about three weeks. >> reporter: forecast of a blizzard this weekend is only adding to the misery and frustration. >> i was on the subway the other day. it's amazing how frustrating and angry everybody was with each other. >> mentally i'm a little tired. i haven't slept much. >> reporter: further transit woes continue here. elsewhere, a dangerous pileup closed interstate 80 near the pennsylvania/new york border. and in maine cutters were

breaking up the ice in kas kel bay. >> this is serious stuff. >> reporter: in new york city warnings for subzero windchills. >> please check on your neighbors. next few nights will be bitterly bitterly cold. >> reporter: we're expecting temperatures to fall into the single digits tonight. and you can imagine if you dug out your car for hours on end, you want to maintain that space when you get home. they're calling dibs here so far in boston tonight. and seems people are honoring that lester. >> al roker is here with us in the studio. what are we looking at? >> we are talking 35 million people under some winter warning or windchill advisory. as you can see it is going to be a rough night temperaturewise. buffalo dropping down to 4 below, feeling like 19 13 in roanoke, it will feel like 1. and we've got blizzard watches already up from maine all the way to eastern massachusetts and western storm watches winter storm watches as you get on into new england.

coastal storm develops saturday eching. storm tapping that moisture bringing in heavy snow. by sunday morning we are going to be looking at a full-blown blizzard if this continues on its path, 60-mile-per-hour winds, dangerous windchills. and look at these snowfall amounts, lester. on top of what they've already gotten in maine, we're talking one to two feet of snow. boston a foot and a half. could be upwards of six to nine inches in new york. and if that's not bad enough on monday another storm system develops in the south with ice, snow and heavy rain. so we're not out of the woods yet by any means. >> see you in the morning, al. >> thanks very much. a sea of grief in california as a crowd of 5,000 turned out for a prayer service for three muslim college students shot to death in what police describe a dispute over parking at a condo complex. their neighbor has been charged with murder. the crowd today was so large the service had to be moved to a nearby athletic field. the father of two of the victims continued his call today for authorities to investigate their deaths as a potential hate

crime. islamic leaders also express concern about growing anti-islamic sentiment in the u.s. they called on president obama to address it. investigators say their initial findings do not indicate a hate crime in this case. the murders have garnered international attention that inspired a huge candle light vigil in chapel hill last night. and # muslim lives matter is trending on twitter. chris kyle -- at the aftermath of the crime. a dash cam video shows police in hot pursuit of kyle's truck driven by his suspected killer. the chase lasts ten minutes before a patrol car slams into the truck which swerves along the dark texas road before coming to a stop. the suspect eddie ray routh then emerges to police. routh told them he had taken a couple of souls and has more to take. he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. nobody is getting in and

nobody is getting out at sea ports up and down the west coast. this is day one of what's expected to be a four-day lockout of these ports over a contract dispute. experts say this could cost the economy billions every day and tens of thousands of jobs. nbc's miguel almaguer is at the port of los angeles for us tonight. miguel good evening. >> reporter: lester good evening. this is what a crippling economic shutdown looks like. on a normal day that dock behind me would be bustling with activity. look at this perspective from the air. for the most part the parking lot is completely empty. no one is hauling goods in or out of that facility. those containers stacked high are packed. meantime just offshore dozens of ships are sitting waiting simply to dock. from seattle to san diego, 29 of the nation's busiest ports are on a fast track to nowhere. merchandise isn't moving. >> right now we have about 1,200

containers that are in limbo. >> reporter: jake jabs runs american furniture warehouse in denver. >> this is all imported goods. a lot coming out of india, china. >> reporter: overseas inventory should fill his 14 showrooms. instead it's floating in the pacific. >> it's hurting business. >> reporter: at this citrus plant in california the crop is flourishing but sales are not. fruit that should be selling overseas is instead spoiling. if growers can't sell oranges, they can't pay employees. >> first one up is 2130. >> reporter: jobs and pay are at the center of what could be a catastrophic shutdown at the port. for nine months shipping companies and unions representing port workers have failed to reach a contract agreement. >> it's difficult for my family life right now. >> reporter: dock workers like lisa munos have been locked out of shifts while accused workers of painful slowdown.

jobs and businesses are on the line. and some say the bottleneck here could mean gridlock for much of the economy. for consumers a port shutdown could mean higher prices on everything from the food we buy to the electronics and clothing we purchase. experts say if this shutdown continues we could pay more than $2 billion a day. that's how bad it will effect the economy. at facilities like this one up and down the west coast, a shutdown would affect some 38 million jobs. lester. >> all right miguel. thank you. after weeks of growing violence there's some hope tonight that an even bigger crisis may be averted in ukraine. marathon peace talks have produced a fragile cease-fire but many fear it won't last. our report now from nbc's bill neely. >> reporter: it's a war that killed 5,5 people. plunging the west and russia to

a new low. today, a glimmer of hope that ukraine's war might be stopped. its president visibly weary after 16 hours of talks with the man he met coldly and blames for the crisis russia's president putin. they agreed a cease-fire and withdrawal of heavy weapons. at the end it was mr. putin who was smiling. it's not the best night of my life he said. but we have agreed on the main issues. the u.s. and others say this is just a first step. >> what matters most of all is actually actions on the ground rather than just words on a piece of paper. >> reporter: russian-backed rebels are accused of launching one final land grab before the cease-fire. >> that's why it is of vital importance for us to make pressure to keep the promises about the cease-fire. >> reporter: there's been a cease-fire before a deal last year that broke down almost

immediately. this deal is a new start. what no one knows is whether president putin is finished in ukraine and if this deal will stick. bill neely, nbc news london. the senate has confirmed president obama's nominee to replace chuck hagel at the pentagon. the vote was 93-5 and ashton carter will be the fourth secretary of defense. he previously served as a number two official at the pentagon from 2011 to 2013. tonight, we are mourning the death of a legendary journalist. bob simon of cbs news" 60 minutes" was killed last night in a terrible car accident here in manhattan. he was a passenger in a private car service when his driver apparently crashed into another car and then hit barriers in the middle of the road. authorities say he wasn't wearing a seat belt. he's being remembered tonight as one of the finest journalists of his generation. we get more now from nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: he was considered by his peers to be one of the best writers in the business. >> the monks come here as they

always have for the beauty the tranquility and the isolation. but most of all for this. >> reporter: in 47 years at cbs news bob simon's curiosity took him around the world. >> they are the sea gypsies -- >> reporter: this piece in the congo won simon an emmy one of 27 over his career. he built his reputation in conflict zones covering vietnam with striking candor. >> there's nothing left to say about this war. there's just nothing left to say. >> reporter: he spent decades in the middle east. at the start of the first gulf war, he was held hostage and tortured for 40 days before his release. >> this is a story that could have ended another way, but it's had a happy ending. >> reporter: when he was reunited with his wife and daughter the pictures said it all. that daughter, tanya, is n with him on his final story scheduled to air this

sunday. kate snow nbc news new york. we are also remembering a colleague of our own tonight. correspondent ned colt covered the world for nbc news for more than a decade starting in the mid-90s facing danger with courage, dedication and humor. even when he was kidnapped for three days during the iraq war. generous and big-hearted, ned went on from nbc to do humanitarian work helping refugees of the wars in iraq and syria. ned colt died of a stroke this week in boston. he was 58. our thoughts are with his family. now to nfl hall of famer tony dorsett. he's been in the news this week for his comments about football and the brain condition he now suffers from. in 2013 the former dallas cowboy was diagnosed with signs of cte, which is caused by head trauma and causes memory loss. he recently told a dallas radio program he started his career not knowing the end would be like this. he and his wife spoke with me in

their first tv interview about living with cte. it sounds like an awful diagnosis, cte, words like brain trauma. what does that mean in terms of your day-to-day life? >> well it varies. i mean there's good days and there's bad days lester. i mean there's some days i can be going somewhere, a place i've been going to for maybe over 20 years or so. and i forget how to get there. or my mood swings. >> and, janet, it sounds like it's a team effort to conquer this. >> it is a team effort. when you hear it it sounds a lot worse than what it actually is. it just takes a lot of preplanning and so he was lucky in getting an organized wife. >> i know you don't want to be the poster image of cte but to the extent there's so much awareness now about head trauma about sports about taking care of our kids and young athletes, to that extent what message do you want to send? >> i thought it would be

something good for me to come out with this and let people understand the fact that it's there and it's real. but, you know, when you see kids and especially when those young kids are out there playing pop warner junior high school they get concussions, you've got to take it seriously. >> we think across the board in the sports world whatever the sport may be if there's any type of a head injury involved you need to be proactive about taking care of your children. >> how much do you rely on your family especially now as you go through this struggle? >> we rely really heavily on our faith. we pray a lot about this. tony is still the same tony that we've known all these decades. he just has a few memory issues and with that comes frustration sometimes. but he is still the same person. he's still fun. he's still showing his love for everybody just like he always has. >> given what we've learned about head trauma the last several years, was there a fear that this day might come? >> i don't think that many

people knew until here in recent years what the head trauma the concussions they were causing the damage not just football players but all athletes now we know what it is. now we can combat it. that's the key thing to it lester. be proactive and get out there and do everything that i can possibly do to either slow it down to reverse it or stop it. >> dorsett and several other former players have opted out of a recent settlement between the nfl and other players about cte choosing to let his case stand on its merits. still ahead tonight, outrage over a deadly police shooting caught on camera. a foot chase through traffic ends with cops opening fire. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back.

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a police-involved shooting in washington state is sparking angry protests after officers appeared to fire on a man who tried to run from them. the aclu calls the incident very disturbing. and nbc news has learned the coroner will take a closer inquiry into the man's death. nbc's hallie jackson. >> reporter: the first few minutes of this video show police officers firing their guns and then running after a man. you see him raise his hands above his head and then turns back. that's when police open fire again shooting and killing antonio zambrano montez. he had been throwing rocks -- >> he kept on screaming, shoot

me shoot me. >> reporter: officials say he was tasered but refused to surrender. but that explanation did not satisfy his family. he was arrested last year after trying to reach for an officer's weapon. and the chief described his behavior tuesday as threatening. >> they'll be dealt with accordingly. if they're not wrong, that will also come out. >> reporter: this town has become familiar with this kind of investigation after three other deadly police-involved shootings in the last six months. this one now prompting angry protests with crowds holding signs, some with their hands up and with more demonstrations planned for the weekend police are asking the public for peace. as the victim's family demands justice. hallie jackson, nbc news los angeles. we're back in a moment with a sight in the sky that has people locking themselves in their homes. frustrated with your overactive bladder medicine not working? ...can't handle the side effects? botox® treats symptoms of leaking, going too often, and

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looking for something new to replace johnny carson reruns on saturday nights. what it came up with was a 90-minute edger of performances that would become to be known as "saturday night live." lauren mica sat down with matt lauer as his creation reaches the big 4-0. >> do you remember the original pitch? >> there was no pitch. >> there was no pitch? do you remember going to say let me tell you what i'm thinking about? >> yes, but bold experimental new. no one knew what it was going to be because i'd never done live and they hadn't done live here since the early '60s. >> why'd they trust you? >> i think -- i don't know why they trusted me. >> live from new york it's saturday night! >> that first group of people you put together the reason you're sitting here 40 years later? >> no question. the show stands on their shoulders. them and the designers, the

musicians. every aspect of the taste of the show came from really you know seriously creative people. >> one of the other things that people say about you, you have a brilliant eye for talent. >> yeah. >> has it always been thus? >> the criteria i used when hiring people is if it was 2:00 in the morning and i was walking down the hall and i saw them would i want to duck in to another office? so i think you have to have people that you can drive cross country with. just people who you find interesting and bright and look at things in a different way than you do. >> what should we look for on your program? >> anxiety. >> it would have been impossible for 30-year-old lauren michaels to know what this should would become. >> for sure. >> but if you could go back and tell that 30-year-old something he didn't know at the time about this what would it be? >> well i would have said to not keep your apartment in l.a. because that would just be a waste of money.

>> much more of matt's interview with lorne michaels tomorrow morning on "today." that will do it for us tonight. i'm lester holt for nbc news. thank you for watching and good night.

jon stewart's first interview about quitting the "daily show." >> why are you leaving us? >> who does he think should replace him now on "extra." ♪ jon stewart today talking only to "extra" about his daily show farewell. >> i'm assuming they'll pick someone around my size so they can save on the suits. >> when he's leaving, and why he would never go after brian williams' nightly news chair. breaking new details on the horrific car crash that killed "60 minutes" legend bob simon. >> police investigating if the driver was speeding or texting. >> simon's colleagues in tears remembering the reporter who survived saddam's prison. >> piers